PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh police are looking for a man who robbed a convenience store with a very unusual weapon.
Investigators said a man threatened a customer and store clerk on Saturday at the Uni Mart on Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside armed with a hypodermic needle that he said was filled with the HIV virus.
Dr. James Hartwig, the customer, said that even a needle with nothing visible inside is very dangerous. The assailant confronted Hartwig at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, a few hours after the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup.
"He had his hand up in the air and he simply stated that he had a syringe and it was tainted -- full of HIV -- and he was going to stick me with it if I didn't give him money," Hartwig said. "I turned to my left and he had his hand up and I gave him a push and I tried to get as far away from him as I could."
Hartwig said he couldn't see if anything was in the syringe, but advised the clerk to comply and give the robber money from the cash register.
"You don't have to have a syringe full of anything if the needle itself was used by a person who's HIV positive (because) a needle stick with that, the possibility of transmission is there also," Hartwig said.
The actor is described as a white male, approximately 25 years old, 6 feet tall, 215 pounds with a husky build and a thin neatly trimmed beard. Witnesses said he had colorful tattoos on both arms and he may have a tattoo on the outer portion of his left calf.
Police said the assailant grabbed the money from the clerk's hand running out of the store toward Alter Way. Investigators continued to review surveillance video Tuesday.
Hartwig said he'd like to see the man off the streets.
"I don't like to see anyone's life threatened. If he was that desperate that night, chances of him repeating that again is high," Hartwig said.
No one was hurt in the robbery. The man got away with about $100.
Investigators said they're looking at a surveillance video, but so far haven't made any arrests.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact police.
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